OXIRM has a particular interest in innovation and entrepreneurship in retailing. Entrepreneurship is the lifeblood of the retail sector. Innovation in retailing is different and distinctive from that which takes place within conventional production companies - but is also more than simply service innovation. OXIRM members contribute to the Building a Business training course offered by the Business School to local businesses and University staff. Recent projects in this area include:
Value-Driven Service Innovation (Research Council of Norway, Accenture, Borg Innovation) – commenced October 2008
Most value creation and employment in developed economies occurs in the service sector, including healthcare, retail, financial services, tourism, education, social services, and consulting to name a few. Hence, there is a strong need for understanding innovation in services. However, there is no universally agreed definition of services and no universally agreed definition of innovation. Moreover, service innovation cuts across traditional academic areas, such as economics, strategy, organisational behaviour, marketing, and operations management. Scholars do not quote one another and adopt different empirical objects and modes of perceiving them (Fagerberg 2006). This project aims to unravel some of this confusion and so present a clearly delineated research agenda, while still recognising the multi-dimensional, multi-disciplinary nature of research into service innovation.
The specific objective of the VDSI project is to advance methodologies for developing innovative service concepts that increase value to the consumer. The project is jointly run with partners at BI School of Management and Haas Business School, Berkeley. This 4 year project started this academic year. Scholarship goals include the production of at least 3 “A” grade papers - the first by summer 2010 - and a book in 2012. At least 2 doctoral students will be fully funded at BI during the period, with exchanges with Oxford and more to be considered here and in Berkeley, as funding streams develop. Total funding is currently NOK26.2 million (GBP2.5 million).
Innovation in the UK Retail Sector (NESTA)
In the current discussion on the stimulation of innovation in services, the practice of innovation in retailing is poorly understood and inadequately measured. And yet retailing is the eighth biggest sector of the world economy in terms of total market value and accounts for 7% of total value-added and 10% of the UK’s working population. The retail sector makes direct contributions to GDP and employment, but also makes indirect contributions to demand and economic growth through its work with suppliers and business service firms, as well as to the UK’s social and environmental performance. Innovation by retailers plays a critical role in allowing the sector to make these contributions. The 17th annual edition of the UK’s R&D Scorecard notes that Tesco and Marks & Spencer are amongst the UK’s ‘R&D leaders’ and ‘fastest growing R&D spenders’ respectively.
However, conventional measures of innovation suggest that the retail sector scores relatively lowly compared to sectors such as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology or knowledge-intensive based services. 40% of UK retail firms claimed to be ‘innovation active’ in 2005. Whilst these results are not dissimilar to those for many other service sectors, it also suggests that conventional measures of innovation may not capture the full picture. Is there less innovation in retailing, or do retailers innovate differently?
OXIRM undertook a sectoral study commissioned by NESTA on behalf of DBIS to examine the nature of, drivers and barriers to innovation in retailing. You can read the full report here.